Student safety literally in hands of NC bus drivers

The Ohio Department of Education won’t compile funding totals for districts until after the start of the new school year.

Both panels rejected requests from Tunica County administrators for time to reform, after Superintendent Stephen Chandler resigned last week.

The hand signal protocol of waiting/making eye contact, an OK signal, and a Proceed signal from the bus driver was successfully piloted in two school districts in 2013, officials said.

Hopkins has been reporting to the school board for the past several months that the district is ahead in its spending and the secretary treasurer expects, in line with previous years, to have a small surplus of about two per cent of the budget or about $400,000 once final analysis is completed. One was a budget amendment to the current fiscal year for school cafeteria funding. Acting on a recommendation from the Mississippi Commission on School Accreditation, the MBE voted unanimously to ask Governor Phil Bryant to declare a state of emergency for the school district. For example, the state criticized Chandler for never reporting an alleged rape at Rosa Fort High School in 2014. Neylon resigned from her post after moving out of her District 2.

Just when local school officials thought they were out of the woods for the next couple of years, Gov. John Kasich has thrown a wrench into the district’s expectations for state funding.

He pointed out that when compared with the overall budget’s size, there is “hardly any” budget deficit projected for next school year, with an expected shortfall of $209,290.

The Harpursville School district has roughly 900 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade- in addition to a staff of approximately 230 employees.

District leaders asked for 60 to 90 days to fix problems.

“This action, like previous cuts in state aid by his administration, will further increase the burden on Aurora property owners or possibly jeopardize the ability of our schools to operate at excellent levels of performance over a wide range of services”.

The lawsuit claims the school board has repeatedly violated the Open Meetings Law since July 2014, by convening in executive sessions without adequately stating what subjects will be discussed privately.

“The changes in personnel have negatively affected everyday instruction and support of HCSD students, particularly those with special needs, and have wholly demoralized the entire HCSD community”, the lawsuit said.

“My feeling about that is that we are really fortunate that we have a healthy reserve so that we can absorb a shortfall in our budget”, Palmieri said.

If Bryant declares an emergency, the state will name Margie Pulley, most recently conservator in Oktibbeha County, as conservator in Tunica County.

Wake County school bus driver Spencer Jenkins said kids will need to learn to watch the bus driver.